Apparatus for treating boards of defibrated wood or similar materials in sheet form



AP1141959 s. CARLss'oN ETAL 2,881,534

, APPARATUS FOR TREATING BOARDS OF DEFIBRATED WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIALS IN SHEET FORM Filed Jan. 13, 1956 i 2 Sheetss--Sl'meat` 1 lss' INVENTORSZ SVEN CARLSSQN KURT ROLAND LARSEN www LSSON ET AL Filed Jan. 13. v 1956 FIGB.

April 14, 1.959 Y s. CAR

APPARATUS FOR TREATING BOARDS oF DEFIBRATED woon 0R SIMILAR MATERIALSIN SHEET Fo RM f 2 Sheets-Sheet `2 INVENTORSZ SVEN CARLSSQN KURT ROLAND LARSEN ATTYS.

United States Patent O APPARATUS FOR TREATING BOARDS OF DEFI- BRATED WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIALS IN SHEET FORM Sven Carlsson, Hagersten, and Kurt Roland Larsn,

Bromma, Sweden, assignors to AB Svenska Flaktfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden Application January 13, 1956, Serial No. 558,952 Claims priority, application Sweden January 15, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 34-163) The present invention relates to apparatus for treating boards of defibrated wood or similar materials in sheet form, which apparatus consists of a closed conditioning chamber, provided with feeding and discharge openings for the sheets and means for transport of the sheets within the chamber between said openings and further equipped with means for treating and circulating of a gaseous treatmg medium. In the present case the transporting means for the sheet form consists of a rotor wheel arranged in the center of the chamber and is rotatable around a horizontal axle, said rotor wheel having two coaxial cylinders and a number of radial rods arranged between said cylinders. The sheets are fed one by one from one end of the rotor wheel between a pair of said rods. After having been rotated with the rotor wheel one turn, the sheets are discharged at the other end of the rotor wheel.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a conditioning apparatus of a more compact design. The main characteristic of the invention is that the chamber is given such a length that free spaces are formed at both ends of the rotor wheel. One of the spaces encloses the conditioning and circulating means for the treating medium, and the other of said spaces is used as a hood for turning the medium. The treating medium is therefore forced to circulate between the sheets parallel to the rotor wheel axis.

The inner cylinder preferably is made with an air-tight cylindrical surface, and is used as a return duct for the treating medium.

In conditioning apparatus of the above mentioned type, where the output is small and accordingly the number 5 of plates to be enclosed simultaneously in the apparatus also is small, the cross sectional area of the inner cylinder will usually be so small that the cylinder often proves insufficient as return duct for the treating medium. In such cases the inner cylinder may be made with closed 50 end walls and the circulating means is arranged in a partition in the free space between one end wall of the chamber and said rotor wheel, whereby the conditioning medium is forced to circulate in opposite direction in each half of the rotor wheel.

The invention will now be described more in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, Where Fig. 1 shows a vertical cross section through the treating apparatus;

Fig. 2 shows a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l through the treating apparatus with a transporting means, and

Fig. 3 shows a horizontal section through a modified form of treating apparatus.

In the drawing figures 1 designates a transporting means, by which the sheets are fed into and discharged from 2,881,534 Patented Apr. 14, 1959 the conditioning apparatus. 2 designates a rotor wheel for the transport of the sheets within the treating apparatus. The rotor wheel consists of two coaxial cylinders 5 and 10 respectively, between which cylinders radially extending rods or plates 3 are arranged, in order to hold the sheets in a fixed position during the treating. The rotor wheel is mounted o-n an axle 6 with two bearings 7 for rotation by a driving device 8. The rotor wheel can either be arranged in a stationary casing 9 or the outer cylinder 10 of the rotor wheel can be positioned in alignment between two stationary hoods 11 and 12. One of said hoods encloses the conditioning means, for instance heating elements 14 and spray nozzles 15 for a humidifying liquid together with the circulating means 13.

In apparatus where the output is small, and the inner cylinder is insuicient to return the treating medium, the apparatus may be modied as shown in Fig. 3. In this case, the rotor wheel may consist of two coaxial cylinders Sa and 10a, and may be mounted in a stationary casing 9a. The inner cylinder 5a may be formed with closed ends as indicated at 16, 16, and the circulating means 13a arranged in a partition 17 in the space between one end of the chamber 9a and the rotor wheel, whereby the treating medium is forced to circulate in opposite directions in each half ofthe rotor wheel.

What we claim is:

In apparatus for treating boards of debrated wood or similar materials in sheet form comprising an elongated horizontal closed treating chamber having end Walls and side walls, a rotary conveyor in said chamber mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis therein, -said rotary conveyor comprising two coaxial cylinders and a plurality of radial rods mounted intermediate said cylinders, feed means including a feed opening in one end wall of said chamber for `feeding sheets one by one between the radial rods of said rotary conveyor, means to rotate said conveyor in said chamber, discharge means including a discharge opening in the opposite end wall of said chamber to discharge the sheets from between said radial rods upon completion of one revolution of said rotary conveyor, the improvement wherein the end walls of said chamber are spaced axially from the ends of the rotary conveyor to provide free spaces at opposite ends of said chamber, a partition in one of said free spaces extending longitudinally of said chamber between said conveyor and said one end wall and transversely between the side walls through a plane containing the rotary axis of said cylinders, and means in said partition to circulate treating medium axially through said rotary conveyor toward the other free space at one side of said plane, the other of said free spaces turning the treating medium and returning the same to said circulating means through said conveyor to said one free space at the other side of said plane, the inner cylinder of said conveyor being closed against the passage of air therethrough whereby the treating medium is recirculated through said conveyor parallel to the axis of said rotary conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,429,435 Jones Sept. 19, 1922 1,602,700 Noun Oct. 12, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS 852,939 Germany Oct. 20, 1952 

